Two additional open forums were held by the Library in conjunction with Campus Auxiliary Services and the campus administration to gather input from students on a proposed Library move to Fraser Hall. Stakeholders wanted to hear what sorts of seating options and supplemental services students hoped to see in a long-term temporary library space in Fraser 203.
Additional open forums focused specifically on the Library took place at the end of February and in early March. Corey Ha, Alana Nuth, and Daniel Ross fielded questions about the state of library services in the wake of the Library’s move to Sturges.
With rising concerns about a number of different campus issues at the start of the Spring 2020 semester, SUNY Geneseo Administration held an open forum to hear concerns from students. The Library was represented by Alana Nuth, Milne’s Head of Collection Management.
Library staff put together a breakfast and dinner celebration for members of Facilities Services for their tireless, round-the-clock efforts to prepare Sturges Hall for the library’s emergency move. Letters of gratitude were also handed out to members of the Facilities Services team.
By the first day of the semester, nearly all library services were operational, and library staff members were moved into their new Sturges offices. While the closure of Milne was deeply upsetting to students, faculty, and staff across the campus, resuming operations in such a short period of time was the result of a truly immense amount of time and effort by library staff, Facilities Services, state contractors, and the campus administration.
Facilities delivered the entirety of the Library’s Reserve Collection (approximately 1,000 books), with the goal of having materials ready for checkout by the first day of classes. This collection was among the highest priority of items to be retrieved from the Library, as this relatively small collection regularly accounted for more than 50% of all physically circulated items.
Less than two weeks after the initial evacuation of Milne, library staff moved into the Sturges office suite to begin preparations for the start of the Spring 2020 semester.
While library staff continued to process interlibrary loan requests for electronic journal articles throughout the duration of the Library’s closure, the sending and receiving of books and other items for IDS was interrupted. With Fraser being centrally located on campus and without a loading dock, library staff worked with campus Central Stores to coordinate continued shipping and receiving of library materials through the mail. On January 16, 2020, IDS courier services resumed, restoring a vital library service to the campus.
Prior to the closure, the Library had employed approximately 60 student workers. The move to a significantly smaller location meant that the Library would not have enough work for its regular student workforce. Library staff communicated with College officials to find work placements for students who suddenly found themselves out of a campus job. On Thursday, January 16, 2020, the formal process of transferring student employees to new positions with the College Union and Environmental Health & Safety began.
In the coming days, additional walkthroughs of the selected space in Sturges took place to plan locations for library staff and services. Of note, the Leadership Team needed to find locations for 25 staff members, the Service Desk, Course Reserve Collection, CIT HelpDesk, Writing Learning Center, Research Help Desk, and the Mail room for shipping / receiving purposes.
Within a few days of learning that the asbestos in Milne would result in an indefinite closure of the building, the Library’s Leadership Team started touring available spaces to temporarily house library services. One of these spaces was an office suite on the main floor of Sturges Hall. This space was most recently occupied by AOP, who were actively moving to Blake Hall at the time.